The Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein homebred Ideal World filly Mocha Blend powers home under Sean Veale (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
Andrew Harrison (Gold Circle)
Mocha Blend only won a maiden at a hot and humid Hollywoodbets Scottsville yesterday but she won with authority. Frank Robinson’s filly caught the eye when running on late behind Meritorious on debut and although the latter did not run up to expectations at her next start with excuses, Mocha Blend is a filly with quality about her.
She stood out head and shoulders above her rivals in the paddock and won as she liked with Sean Veale commenting post-race that if he had not found some trouble in a muddling pace, she would have won a lot more comfortably than the four and a bit lengths would suggest. Mocha Blend took the corner with Veale’s hands in the air as if he was driving a harness chariot, a sure sign that his mount was cruising. She is definitely a filly worth following over ground.
Gary Rich is one of the country’s most under rated trainers as he shows week in and week out what he can do with the limited stock that he has to work with.
But he has his fair share of winners with what he’s got and Flying Cool got over the line late under stable stalwart and regular pilot Cole Dicken to win the fourth. With the field all bunching on the outside rail in the straight, Dicken found himself hunting galloping room but once through a gap, Flying Cool responded gamely.
Second-placed Captain Oliver was only having his second start but Frikkie Greyling looks to have a promising stayer in the good looking son of Potala Palace who is sure to come on from this effort as the pace was never genuine.
Between a dearth of two-year-olds in KZN and many trainers preferring to wait until later in the season for their charges to make their debuts, the operator was left in a conundrum when two horses were scratched from the first leaving just four runners.
The question then became, do they let four runners from two stables contest for the R111 000k stake, or abandon the race? The operator decided to abandon given the value of the stake and the fact that tote turnover on the race would almost certainly be negligible. For the owners it will have been a disappointment but in the greater scheme of things given the precarious state of racing in KZN, it was probably the prudent thing to do.
But favourite punters got off to a winning start when Dressedtothenines made most of the running under young apprentice Mxolisi Mbuto who kept plugging away to win comfortably with fellow apprentice Sifiso Bungane chasing him home aboard Wings Of Josephine with the balance of the field a long way behind.
Safe And Sound is a filly on the up with Kabelo Matsunyane having worked her out, and giving valuable feedback to Duncan Howells. Not the easiest to settle, Matsunyane made the pace in her last two and the daughter of Querari responded with back-to-back victories.
Impatient owners are always a millstone around a trainer’s neck. Granted, there are some trainers that string owners along to keep the stable money coming in but mostly it is a case of patience.
The original owners lost patience with Stars In Heaven but on the advice of Gareth van Zyl, he was a buy-back on an online sale. The hot son of Danon Platina has repaid twice with back-to-back wins as he outgunned stable companion and favourite Gimmethegoodlife in the fifth.
Emerald Green was not one that you could hang your hat on given her recent form but it all panned out in her favour with a messy start playing in her hands in the seventh. Chase Maujean and Louis Goosen go back a long way and Maujean pressed all the right buttons as the daughter of Gimmethegreenlight quickened away from her rivals with Happy Analia, always up with the pace, no match as her inexperience apprentice allowed her to wander under pressure.
The South African Jockey Academy held their year-end awards ceremony on Friday but there is only so much that you can teach, the rest goes to experience.
Piere Strydom gave a master class on Fatal Flaw in the WSB Cape Fillies Guineas on Saturday but as accomplished veteran Kevin Shea pointed out in a recent podcast, the rest of the country does not have to put up with a host of inexperienced apprentices.
Apprentice Damyan Pillay rode an excellent race on Hope Is Power in the last, failing by the narrowest of margins, but the experience of Matsunyane counted on Mar Del Plata who scraped home with Hope And Power looking for some assistance.
